GLAC PÁIRT I GCUR CHUN TOSAIGH na hÉIREANN

DUP need to stop peddling the 'big lie'

Sinn Féin General Secretary, Foyle MLA Mitchel McLaughlin has accused
Gregory Campbell of peddling lies about the nature of disadvantage,
discrimination and unemployment in the Six Counties.

Mr McLaughlin said:

"The DUP are obsessed with peddling lies and myths about the true nature of
disadvantage, discrimination and unemployment in the Six Counties.

"There is no question that many in the protestant community are
disadvantaged but the reality is that on every single indicator that
Catholics face greater disadvantage.

"The facts speak for themselves. 70% of people living in the 10% most
deprived wards, as measured by the Noble Index, are Catholic

"The multiple deprivation statistics published in May this year show that
West and North Belfast, Derry City, Craigavon and West of the Bann continue
to be the most deprived parts of the Six Counties.

"People from the Catholic community are more likely to be unemployed than
Protestants. That is also an indisputable fact. Action is required to tackle
the unemployment differential between the two communities not the lies
peddled by the DUP.

"If we are going to tackle the social and economic problems created by the
patterns of economic activity throughout the Six Counties then we need to be
honest about what is happening. Ignoring the true extent of the problem will
not help us to put in place the long-term solutions required. Telling lies
and propagating myths is part of an attempt to stop resources being targeted
on the basis of objective need and objective need alone.

"The attempt to rewrite the history of this state and to misrepresent the
current reality both feeds into the siege mentality of unionism and
undermines the ability of the equality agenda to affect real change that can
and should benefit everyone in our society that lives with disadvantage.

"Historic and current patterns of policy and public expenditure show
discrimination against the West of the Bann area, the border region and
Catholic rural and urban communities. All objective data on disadvantage,
poverty and particularly patterns of unemployment, housing and ill health
testifies to this reality." ENDS

Note to Editors

The unemployment rate for Catholic men is 9 per cent compared with 5 per
cent for Protestant men. Among women, the unemployment rates are 6 per cent
for Catholics and 3 per cent for Protestants. A higher proportion of
Catholic than Protestant working age men and women are classified as
economically inactive. 24 per cent of Catholic men are economically inactive
compared with 18 per cent of Protestant men.

Indicators such as economically inactive rates, the 'official' unemployment
figures and also at the levels of long-term unemployment, long-term illness
and incapacity, and others such as the Noble index of deprivation and
indicators of poverty and ill health all correlate. The statistics show that
unemployment, ill health and poverty are a bigger problem for the Catholic
community.

The monitoring statistics released by the Equality Commission in December
show that the Catholic share of the workforce is still below the Catholic
proportion of the economically active population. In the Public sector 55.1%
of the overall composition is Protestant and 39.8% Catholic while in the
Private sector the protestant share is 55.6% protestant and 39.4% catholic.

The composition of the private sector with 26 plus employees also show a
pattern of Catholic under-representation. Harland & Wolff employs 12
Catholics and 235 protestants and Shorts Brothers employs only 14.8%
Catholics as against some 85.2% Protestants.

The same pattern of under-representation is replicated among government
departments, particularly at senior civil service grades. The 2nd Report of
the Justice Oversight Commissioner published June 2004 shows that that less
than 1 in 4 senior civil servants is Catholic. Across the NIO as a whole,
Catholics make up only 28% of the workforce.

At senior civil service grades (5+ and 6/7) there is systematic under
representation with less than 25% of all senior grade civil servants coming
from a Catholic background, ranging from 15% in the Employment, Trade and
Investment Department, 13% in Regional Development to 33% in Education.
Given recruitment trends over the last 30 years it would take until 2057 to
achieve fair representation.

The Health Department report on Health Inequalities published in May last
year show that people living deprived area are a third more likely to die
prematurely; 25% more likely to die as an infant; 15% more likely to get
cancer; and 25% more likely to be admitted to hospital.

The Housing Executive figures for 2002-03, show that in Belfast the
percentage of Catholics on the Housing Executive waiting list for a house
was 44%, yet only 28% of those actually allocated a house were Catholic - an
'under-allocation' of 16%. Protestants represented 43% of those on the
waiting list, but 64% of those allocated a house - an 'over-allocation' of
21%.

For the same period (2002-2003) across the north as a whole the percentage
of Protestants on the waiting list was 47%, with 54% actually being
allocated a house - an over-representation of 7%. For Catholics, the figures
were 40% on the waiting list, and 35% actually allocated a house - an
under-representation of 5%.